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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29236848">Cold Inside and Outside</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/aloremi/pseuds/aloremi'>aloremi</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Gravity Falls</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Cold, Forduary, Forduary 2021, Gen, hypothermia?</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 09:42:17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>669</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29236848</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/aloremi/pseuds/aloremi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Ford's heating has been out for two days. Sometimes, that means being cold and mildly introspective.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Fiddleford H. McGucket &amp; Ford Pines</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Cold Inside and Outside</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>An early sunrise concealed by a thin cloud cover. The shack was cold, almost freezing, but that was how Ford liked it. Generally, life liked heat. </p><p>Cold was associated with sickness and death. Nothing could get him if it was too cold for them to move faster than him.</p><p>Ford sat at the old, wooden kitchen table with a mug of cold coffee in his hands. The hands that were blue at the tips. Hands that he could see thick, blue veins and blue palms. This was familiar, and he was not concerned about their appearance. </p><p>The coffee had been warm, at some point. Now, he could almost imagine the top of the liquid freezing over. </p><p>The power had been out for two days now. He was relying on a device that built up energy while he moved about during the day. However, he was having increasingly more trouble moving about as the temperature declined.</p><p>A quick shiver ran through his body. It jolted him just enough that the cold coffee splashed onto his hands. Ford thought that he had drank at least a few sips to get him through the next few hours, but that did not seem to be the case. </p><p>His knees cracked as he stood and walked to the sink. The sensation would normally be painful, but it was dull. Ford turned on the sink only for nothing to come out. He hated the feeling of the coffee on his hands.</p><p>Carefully, he made his way down the stairs to his lab. He remembered leaving water jugs there. As he descended, so did the temperature. </p><p>On the last step, he tripped. Crashing to the ground, he caught himself on his hands. The sharpness of wood splinters broke his numbness and he hissed through his teeth. </p><p>The water jugs were on a table to his right. He just had to make it there. Ford limped to the table and slowly sat on a chair positioned next to it. </p><p>He spent several minutes pulling the splinters from his hands and running water over them.<br/>
In the end, a small puddle of water was on the ground and his hands were stinging. He had to go back up to the bathroom to put something on his hands to avoid an infection, and do something with the coffee on the kitchen table. </p><p>Ford stayed in that chair. The stinging was replaced by numbness from the cold. </p><p>He knew what had happened to land him in the situation. </p><p>Stanford Pines, who is a genius and a scientist, but no amount of academic achievements and accolades could keep him from pushing everybody away. He was alone in Gravity Falls at the moment. He was not supposed to be. </p><p>Fiddleford was meant to have returned yesterday from a visit to California, but had not. He could have been held up by the weather, the snow, or just recognizing his own genius enough to stay away from Ford.</p><p>So Ford sat in his chair, in his lab that was dropping well below freezing. He knew he should move. Even if he could not get up the stairs at the moment, he knew he had to move. </p><p>He tried, and failed. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“Ford! Ford! Where are you?” Ford could barely hear the shouts above the ringing in his ears. His hands were bluer then ever, which was decidedly not good. The voice sounded like Fiddleford, but he could not be sure.</p><p>“Fiddleford.” He tried to shout, but only a whispered emerged. Ford could hear the thundering of footsteps above him and the shouts of his name. His vision blurred.</p><p>“Ford! What are you doin’ down here? Are you tryin’ to get sick or somethin’?” Fiddleford’s concerned voice jolted him awake. He looked up to see his friend kneeling in front of him.</p><p>“Are you alright? I wanted to be back up here yesterday, but the snow had the highways closed off.” He sounded apologetic. </p><p>Ford just nodded. He could not find the energy to speak.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I have not written anything outside of academic papers for about six years. However, Gravity Falls is a relatively comforting show. I wanted to try writing again.<br/>We all have to start somewhere.</p><p>This is for Forduary 2021. Week One: Hurt/Comfort. <br/>I did not really get to the comfort, or even the hurt. Emotions are hard.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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